Community College ESOL Faculty/Staff Network

RSVP for the first meeting: Friday, November 2, 2012

At the MATSOL Conference in May 2012, a group of community college faculty met to discuss issues that are important to community colleges in Massachusetts. During the session, participants offered several future directions and issues of importance for the community college group. These include (in no specific order):

• Credentialing for ESL across the state
• The relationships between workforce ESL and academic ESL
• Being proactive on the college campus
• ABE and ESL
• Over-reliance on adjunct faculty
• Grants and their effects on our programs
• What is success for a community college ESL student?
• Anti-immigrant backlash
• Academic credit for ESL
• Writing position papers on important issues

There is a lot of energy and expertise at our Massachusetts community colleges, and it is evident that our ESL/ESOL programs and personnel contribute greatly to the Commonwealth. It is an important time for us to come together and work on issues that are relevant to us, to our programs, and especially, to our students. With the backing of MATSOL, Massachusetts community college ESL/ESOL programs can have a strong support network and have a louder voice on issues of import.  It is a great opportunity to work together once again.

Read the full article from MATSOL Currents